Psychological burden of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated factors among frontline doctors of Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Frontline doctors are the most vulnerable and high-risk population to get the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Hence, we aimed to evaluate the anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance and fear of COVID-19 among frontline doctors of Bangladesh during the pandemic, and the associated factors for these psychological symptoms. Methods: In total, 370 frontline doctors who were involved in the treatment of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients during the pandemic took part in an online cross-sectional study. Recruitment was completed using convenience sampling and the data were collected after the start of community transmission of COVID-19 in the country. Anxiety and depression, sleep disturbance, and fear of COVID-19 were assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-4, two-item version of the Sleep Condition Indicator, and the Fear of Coronavirus-19 scale, respectively. Socio-demographic information, health service-related information, co-morbidity, and smoking history were collected for evaluating risk factors. The proportion of psychological symptoms were presented using descriptive statistics and the associated factors were identified using multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results: Of the doctors, 36.5% had anxiety, 38.4% had depression, 18.6% had insomnia, and 31.9% had fear of COVID-19. In multinomial logistic regression, inadequate resources in the workplace were found as the single most significant predictor for all psychological outcomes: anxiety and/or depression (severe, OR 3.0, p=0.01; moderate, OR 5.3, p=0.000; mild, OR 2.3, p=0.003), sleep disturbance (moderate, OR 1.9, p=0.02), and fear of COVID-19 (severe, OR 1.9, p=0.03; moderate, OR 1.8, p=0.03). Conclusions: The study demonstrated a high burden of psychological symptoms among frontline doctors of Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Inadequate resources are contributing to the poor mental health of Bangladeshi doctors. The supply of sufficient resources in workplaces and mental health counseling may help to mitigate the burden of the psychological symptoms identified among the respondents..

Keywords: Bangladesh; COVID-19; doctors; mental health; risk factors.

Figure 1.. Flowchart for the enrollment and follow-up of participants.